Gamers from across the globe cast aside their mild-mannered personas and assume superheroic alter-egos, to protect Paragon City from a host of strange and extraordinary villains. City of Heroes is a second-generation persistent-world RPG that revolves around the community and conflict of a comic book metropolis that is recovering from a recent alien attack. Players design their own characters, choosing a name, appearance, costume and colors, super power type, and even a secret origin, then take the roles of their custom superheroes to join thousands of other like-minded avatars in a fight for truth and justice online.

With such an abundance of extraordinarily able guardians, one might expect the City of Heroes to be the safest, best protected place on the planet. Not all who achieve great power choose to use it for the betterment of humanity, however, and even those with good intentions sometimes find themselves at crossed purposes. Moreover, secretive organizations of influential individuals abound, each one scheming to grab more power by any means available. Particulars of the recent history of Paragon City also help ensure that its heroes will never be at a loss for desperate situations requiring their super-powered attention.

Founded in 1823, Paragon City grew to become the largest metropolis in the United States and the world's most popular hometown for super-powered heroes. It was here that the first organized team of superheroes originated, and here that artificially enhanced soldiers were first trained to fight in World War II. Paragon City was among the first to deputize its supernatural champions, in the early '50s, and its streets were protected by these heroes for the next half-century. Yet in spite of this support — or perhaps because of it — Paragon City was also the hardest hit when extra-dimensional aliens, known as the Rikti, invaded in 2002. Though the threat was contained, the once-bustling metropolis was fractured into a patchwork of human- and alien-controlled areas.

Once a stronghold of exceptional abilities and American ideals, Paragon City now needs its heroes more than ever before. In addition to the unknown numbers of Rikti that may still hide among the abandoned buildings and underground stations, many new threats have arisen in the ensuing chaos. So here the adventure begins, for fledgling vigilantes and up-and-coming criminologists. Whether busting punks on the street or investigating the intrigue of endless factional conflict, true defenders of justice will be in their element as they enter this City of Heroes. ~ T.J. Deci, All Game Guide

Your gamerDNA learns what you love about games so it can tell you what you'll enjoy about others. When you "run" your gamerDNA at a game page (like this one) the data within your gamerDNA is calculated against all the data associated with the game, in this case City of Heroes, and what comes out the other side are all the things your gamerDNA has in common with the game. Pretty cool!

Your gamerDNA learns what you love about games so it can tell you what you'll enjoy about others. When you "run" your gamerDNA at a game page (like this one) the data within your gamerDNA is calculated against all the data associated with the game, in this case City of Heroes, and what comes out the other side are all the things your gamerDNA has in common with the game. Pretty cool!

“This is probably my #1 all-time favorite game. I literally cried when it was shut down. What I love about it? It's based on superheroes for one thing, so you get to fly around, use superjump, super speed, teleport, and use all kinds of superpowers....”

“This is probably my #1 all-time favorite game. I literally cried when it was shut down. What I love about it? It's based on superheroes for one thing, so you get to fly around, use superjump, super speed, teleport, and use all kinds of superpowers. You get to feel heroic, and there are capes, spandex, and bright colors everywhere. Another nice thing about the superhero genre is the fact that it encompasses almost every other genre, from fantasy to sci-fi, modern world, military, historical, etc.

This game also had fun sandbox features, from the dizzying array of archetypes and power combinations you could choose from to customizing every detail of your character's look. There was also a supergroup base system, allowing you to create a base with your friends, adding and changing rooms, decorating floors, walls, and ceilings, as well adding various accommodations like teleport pads, crafting stations, storage, etc.

Above all, however, the best thing about this game was the ease of grouping and overall accessibility. You had difficulty sliders on missions letting you control the quantity and level of enemies. Then there was the fact that mission credit was automatically shared with everyone in the group. You never had to worry about what level you were compared to your teammates because everyone's level would automatically scale to the group leader or the selected mission. Missions would automatically scale to group size as well, so you could play with as few as 1 or as many as 7 other players and you'd still be challenged.

Endgame had an alternate progression system based on earning various materials and shards, and then using those to unlock powers and bonuses. These drops came from trials, which were basically raids you could play with a full group, or two groups put together (16 players). They were a lot of fun, with multiple objectives and huge battles. Aside from that, the crafting and loot system was based on building upgrades to powers, allowing you to add more damage or accuracy, or reduce the power cost of powers, or upgrade secondary effects like hold duration, range, etc.

What an amazing game! Will Heroes and Villains or City of Titans manage to recapture the magic? Champions Online and DCUO certainly fell flat, so we'll see.”

“Nobody is playing ball in here. You must be looking at that P.L.O.T. Device on the meeting table. It's perfectly harmless, so long as the writers never say otherwise. Of course, much like a ball, some people have been known to grab one and run with it.”

“A properly stored CD will still self destruct. I have some that have done just that. Properly stored vinyl stays good. We have some albums that are in the 40+ year old range that still play fine. Don was really into music and has quite an extensive collection, he started buying them back in the 70s. He Has the first album he ever bought, Grand Funk Railroad, & that thing is WORN OUT! It still plays, but it is almost comical. He says back when he bought it, it was the only album he had & he listened to it non-stop.”